The Quest for a Tux, Part One

Company Christmas party, 2008. I may have tanned a bit too hard for this one.

If you can’t tell, Wolfman is pretty tall and skinny and, thankfully, has a really good sense of what works for his body. He “has a guy” who tailors his clothes, and he isn’t afraid to rock a skinny jean or a sweater vest. Also, cue Dionne from Clueless—he does like to shop. We’re planning on going black tie for our wedding, and Wolfman decided to buy something instead of renting. There’s a lot of great options for rentals, but he knew he’d want to get something tailored and have every option available.

Well, turns out he certainly has exercised every option available. Wolfman’s quest for his wedding day attire has rivaled my search for a dress. He’s finally made a decision, but it’s taken awhile to get there.

First, a confession: before this search, I knew nothing about tuxedos. This isn’t really something to be embarrassed about, because, spoiler alert: they’re mostly regular suits! The biggest difference in the lapels:

Although not officially a tux, it is definitely “fancy” enough. It was inexpensive and we both really liked the piping on it. Zara, being a European company, has “European cut” clothes, which usually means that they’re tailored more for a skinnier fit. It looked great on him, but the material wasn’t as nice as he was hoping. Unfortunately, he couldn’t return it, so we’ve still got this hanging around. Related: anyone need a size 38R black suit?

After that, he started to really get into the idea of buying a forever tuxedo—something high quality and classic he could wear a lot and thus would be okay spending some money on. He was really close to getting this one from Barney’s: